Cotton bale tie means



Feb. 28, 1956 H. M. DONALDSON ETAL 2,736,078

COTTON BALE TIE MEANS Filed June 22, 1954 I N V EN TORS.

HARP/5 M DONALDSO/V W/LL/AM D. HEBERN A TTORNEVS United States PatentO2,736,078 COTTON BALE TIE MEANS Harris M.-Dnaldson, San Mateo, andWilliam D. Hebern, Kerman, Calif.

Application June 22, 1954, Serial No, 438,555. 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-"-22)'This invention relates to the tying or strapping of cotton bales forshipment, and more particularly to animproved arrangement of metal strapand buckle enabling quickand efiicient tying of a bale.

It is conventional in the art to which this invention appertains toemploy cotton bale tie means comprisinga metal strap and a slotted metalbuckle." Thebucklecarrying end of the strap is conventionally secured-tothe buckle by passing the strap over a portion of the buckle, throughthe slot, and by then reversely bending the strap beneath itself. Theportion. of the buckle .disposed at the other side of the slot isconventionally provided with a throat type opening or entrancewaythroughwhich, the

other end of the strap is twistinglyintroduced into the slot. The buckleof the present invention eliminates the need for such an entranceway tothe slot, and in fact,: by way of'a novel positioning of the slotwith-respect to theend edges 'of the buckle enables a readier :andmow-efficient tying of a bale than is the case withbuckles:ofthe-described conventional type.

An object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a cotton bale tiebucklelof sucharrangement that the end of the metal strap last to beengaged with the buckle may be introduced into and-through the slo't' ofthe buckle by a simple endwise and straight forward threading movement.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved cotton baletie consisting of a metal strap and a metal buckle, with the bucklebeing provided with a slot so positioned between the forward andtrailing ends of the buckle as to provide an improved and more efficientbiting or clamping action, on one of the strap ends, whereby the strapwill not slip with respect to the buckle when the cotton bale isreleased from its condition of compression in the baling apparatus.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description taken in conjunction with the drawingforming part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is an enlarged detail view in perspective of the buckle andstrap combination of the invention;

Figure 2 is a view in perspective of the buckle alone, showing the samein the same position as it is shown in Figure 1; and

Figures 3-5 are perspective views showing sequentially the mode ofattachment of the buckle and strap combination to a bale of cotton.

With reference to the drawing, the buckle, indicated generally at 10,is, for the sake of simplicity of manu facture, preferably rectangularin outline, being provided intermediate its leading and trailing orfront and rear edges 12 and 14 with a rectangular slot 16, the sidewalls of which are disposed normal to the upper and lower surfaces 18and 20 of the buckle. The slot 16 is disposed materially closer to theleading or front edge 12 than to the trailing or rear edge 14 of thebuckle for a purpose hereinafter described.

The buckle 10 and metal strap 22 are connected to- 2,736,078 PatentedFeb. 28, 1956 ice gether by passing the free end 24 of the strap overthe buckle, through slot-16 and by bending a substantial length of thefre'eend 24 back beneath the strap proper. The buckle and strapcombination is then in condition to be employed in the bale tyingoperation now to be described.

As is well known, a bale of cotton 26 is maintained under compression inthe baling apparatus until it has been tied.- The strap and bucklecombination is initially disposed around the bale semi-tightly in theposition shown in Figure '3. As shown a substantial length of the strapend 24 extends around a corner of the bale 26. The buckle is thenrocked-outwardly and downwardly to the position shown in Figure 4, withthe lower edge28 of the leading end 12 of the buckle in engagement withthe bale and constituting, in effect, a fulcrum line. The free end 30 1of the strap is then threaded flatly and forwardly through the slot 16and into underlying relation with the doubled back end 24 of the strap.The strap is placed undersufiicient tension in the preliminarytensioning of it, as illustrated in Figure 4, to cause the free end ofthe strap to be held in position by the conjoint frictional engagementbetween the free end of the strap, the underlying bale'and the overlyingstrap portion and also by the force couple applied to the free end ofthe strap by the-edges 33 and 32 of the slot. The longer dimension isbut slightly greater than the width of the strap so that the slot servesto maintain the ends of the strap in aligned overlapping relation whenthe bale is tied. The shorter dimension of the slot is such that withthe buckle in the canted position of Figure 4 the free end 30 of thestrap may be readily passed through the slot with substantially minimumclearance.

Whenall of the buckle and strap ties for the bale have been placed inthe manner shown in Figure 4, the bale is released from its condition ofcompression inthe baling apparatus, with the result that the expandingbale will cause the buckle to pivot about the fulcrumed forward end 12and to be snapped downwardly to the position of Figure 5 where it isdisposed in parallel with the adjacent surface of the bale. In theprocess of being moved to the Figure 5 position, the buckle, by way ofthe biting diagonally positioned slot edges 33 and 32, imparts thedouble crimp 34 to the free end portion 30 of the strap, said doublecrimp being effective to securely lock the strap in place on the baleagainst any slippage.

We have found that the holding action of the subject bale tie means isconsiderably enhanced when the slot 16 is disposed materially closer tothe forward end 12 of the buckle than to the rearward end 14. In fact,the tie means will not hold against slipping if the slot 16 is, forexample, disposed centrally between the buckle ends 12 and 14 undermodern day high compression baling conditions. It will therefore beappreciated that the positioning of the slot 16 in the manner describedis an important factor in the subject invention.

The buckle 10 should of course be materially thicker than the metalstrap 22 in order to provide an efiicient strap lock by means of thedouble crimp 34. In practice, we have found that a buckle thickness ofapproximately 55 of an inch is satisfactory for this purpose. Thethickness of the metal strap conventionally used for cotton balingpurposes is approximately & of an inch.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a cotton bale maintained under compression, and tiemeans disposed therearound comprising a fiat wholly planar rigid buckleof substantial thickness and rectangular in outline having forward andrearward ends disposed in parallel, an elongated rectangular slot formedin said buckle and defined in part by elongated side walls, which areparallel to each other and normal to the upper and lower surfaces,forming opposed upper and lower biting edges on the longer dimension ofsaid slot, said slot being disposed in parallel relation with said endsand in substantially closer relation to said for ward end than to saidrearward end, a relatively thin bendable tie strap having one endthereof extending over the buckle portion defined between the slot andrearward end, through said slot, and reversely beneath said buckleportion and a substantial length of said strap extending around a cornerof the bale, said buckle being positioned along one side of the bale andbeing canted with its for ward end fulcrumed on the bale, the tie strapbeing extended around the bale with its other end passing through theslot on the canted buckle and underlying the reverse portion of theother end of the strap that extends around a corner of the bale, thelonger dimension of said slot being slightly greater than the width ofthe strap, and the shorter dimension of said slot being such that withthe buckle in said canted position, said other end of the strap may bereadily passed through said slot with substantially minimum clearance,whereby upon the bale being released from compression the firstmentioned end of said strap will cause said buckle to pivot about thefulcrumed forward end thereof and snap the same flat against the side ofthe bale, and whereby the lower biting edge of said elongated slotdisposed toward the rear end of the buckle and the diagonally positionedupper biting edge of said slot disposed toward the forward end of thebuckle will crimp the other strap end last passed through the slot to 1prevent slippage.

2. In combination, a cotton bale maintained under compression, and tiemeans disposed therearound, said means comprising a fiat sided whollyplanar rectangular metal buckle of substantial thickness having obverseand reverse faces and forward and rearward ends, an elongatedrectangular slot formed in said buckle extending in parallel relationwith said ends and disposed closer to said forward end than to saidrearward end, a relatively thin metal strap having one end thereofextending over 6 that portion of said obverse face disposed between saidrearward end and said slot, through said slot, and reversely beneaththat portion of said reverse face disposed between said slot and saidrearward end and beneath a substantial portion of said strap that isextended around a corner of the bale, said strap extending around thebale with its other end extended over that portion of said obverse faceof the buckle disposed between the forward end of said buckle and saidslot, through said slot, and beneath that portion of the reverse facedisposed between said slot and the rearward end of the buckle andbeneath a substantial portion of the other end of the strap that extendsaround a corner of the bale, said buckle being positioned along one sideof the bale and being canted with its forward end being fulcrumed on thebale, the longer dimension of said slot being slightly greater than thewidth of the strap, and the shorter dimension of said slot being suchthat with the buckle in said canted position, said other end of saidstrap may be readily passed through said slot with substantially minimumclearance, whereby upon the bale being released from compression thefirst mentioned end of the strap will cause said buckle to pivot aboutthe fulcrumed forward end thereof and snap the same fiat against theside of the bale, and whereby that portion of the longer dimension slotedge adjacent the forward end and obversely faced end of the buckle andthe longer dimension slot edge disposed adjacent the rearward end andreversely faced end of the buckle will crimp the adjacent portions ofthe end of the strap last passed through the slot to prevent slippage.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain Oct. 31, 1951

